[WikiEN-l] Using Wikipedia to out pseudonymous Erwin James, Guardian writer.

[Oldak Quill]

It might be of interest to someone that pseudonymous Guardian writer
"Erwin James", who wrote articles on prison life while serving a term,
was outed using Wikipedia. He was released in 2004, and had chosen to
remain pseudonymous. Published in today's Guardian, he  an article
formally revealing his identity[1]. It seems that users at a
discussion board (at least, it is suggested on the board that some
users made these edits) [2] had identified him using newspaper
archives, and had outed him on his Wikipedia article[3]. It appears
the discussion board users did not want to reveal his identity there
initially, and had used Wikipedia to out him. The revisions were
rightly removed from the article (and from article history) because
they constituted original research. Following this identification, he
has written this piece in the Guardian, formally identifying himself.

I thought this might be of interest regarding the real world
implications of biographies of living persons and the community's
response to original research and possible defamation. In this case,
the discussion board users would have used another outlet, if not
Wikipedia. We just happened to have been the obvious choice for them
as a third-party, editable medium. Administrators here responded
quickly and effectively to possible defamation, since relating 20
year-old newspaper articles to a pseudonym constitutes original
research. Specifically, the first edit revealing his identity was
reverted after 30 minutes, and a second edit revealing his identity
was reverted after 20 minutes. Both of these revisions were deleted
from article history. It is interesting to read a discussion of the
BLP policy at the discussion board, and the user's impression of what
it means.

Just to be clear, Wikipedia was only incidentally used to out him, and
Wikipedia was not mentioned in Erwin James' article. He was identified
on the message board later in the day, after the revisions were
deleted. Erwin James comments, "The fallout from my identification on
that message board, and the lies I told, has led to this piece; to me
feeling that I now have to be completely honest about both my time in
the legion and to stop hiding from who I really am."

[1] http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/apr/24/erwin-james-journalism
[2] http://www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?action=showall&boardid=40&threadid=11620
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erwin_James

-- 
Oldak Quill (oldakquill at gmail.com)